India Pakistan Slug-fest !!

I have been observing that there are so many fans from India and Pakistan here who are really struggling for space to vent their powerful emotions and to display their logically thought-out and stupendously insightful comments. In fact after hogging 75 % of the space from about two thirds of the threads, they poor guys, are still unable to find sufficient parking space thanks to the completely inconsiderate attitude of the other posters who insist on using the same threads for talking about the subject of the thread howsoever useless and insignificant it may be (and in all cases without exception is).

I have decided to start this thread for the benefit of these energetic young men from the sub-continent to use (and abuse) to their heart's content.

I would request the moderators to keep a strict watch for trollers trying to come and sabotage/hijack this private space meant for the exclusive purpose of slugging it out in the mother of all slug-fests - India is better than Pakistan is better than India is better than Pakistan.... ad infinitum.

As a kid growing up in Pakistan India was just another team against whom we played cricket. My parents send me to a british school in Karachi probably they wanted me to grow up as angrazi babu.In our school only european history was tought which looking back I feel was pretty silly so was quite unawares of our nations own history, never use to watch any news or read news paper so it never occured to me that the two countries had shared such a rocky past. I did know that we had fought a few wars with India but never bothered too much with it. Kargil was probably the first time when I looked at India as any thing other then a cricket team.

As I said, Purely from a cricket perspective there was no rivalry between the two countries. There were personal rivalries like between Imran and Gavaskar but that was two great cricketers competing against each other.

India Pakistan rivalry is no more, it never was a real sport rivalry anyway.

Not quite true. Anybody who consistently watched India-Pakistan matches in the 80s or 90s can attest that nothing quite matched their political-fuelled intensity, not even the Ashes. But part of what added to that drama is that you had great players on both sides.

Since 2004, this rivalry has waned and dwindled. One reason is that they simply played too much cricket against each other (annual test series in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, as opposed to the Ashes which takes place every two years, and innumerable ODIs). The other reason is that while India's stock has risen, Pakistan is no longer the side they once were a decade ago. Evenly-matched sides make for better cricket.

Not quite true. Anybody who consistently watched India-Pakistan matches in the 80s or 90s can attest that nothing quite matched their political-fuelled intensity, not even the Ashes. But part of what added to that drama is that you had great players on both sides.

Since 2004, this rivalry has waned and dwindled. One reason is that they simply played too much cricket against each other (annual test series in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, as opposed to the Ashes which takes place every two years, and innumerable ODIs). The other reason is that while India's stock has risen, Pakistan is no longer the side they once were a decade ago. Evenly-matched sides make for better cricket.

ermmm... no.

Since 2004 test record is 4-3 to India and 16-15 to Pakistan in Odi's. In 80's and 90's it was 5-1 Pakistan in tests while in odi's I don't have the figures but I guess it must be a huge advantage to Pakistan. So the gap between two sides was more during the last two decades then this one where it has been pretty even with I say a slight edge to India since they have done better in the bigger games.